Inocence in Water
by amazinglilli
Summary: This is the untold story of Finnick Odair. Growing up as son of the Mayor he knew that he would eventually be picked for the Hunger Games and expected to win but little did he know that winning was just the beginning of it all. Through this story you will see the games and the real effect they has on people.
1. Chapter 1

"Get up! Now!" my father yells yanking open my bedroom door. He's never in a good mood. "You're NOT going to be late for another day of training!" He slams the door so hard a couple shells fall off my dresser.

I pry myself out of bed, my body still aching from yesterday, before picking up the shells and grabbing my uniform out of the top drawer. As I slip the tight suit over my body I have to grit my teeth to ignore the pain of the bruises that cover it. I tiredly stumble over to the mirror hanging above my bathroom sink and comb my wavy hazelnut hair out of my tan and freckled face.

The wall shakes a couple times and I hear muffled screams, but I try and take a couple deep breaths before going into the hallway where my mother and father are fighting, again. My mother slams into the wall and collapses into a heap on the floor. Her knotted dirty blonde hair lays on the left side of her face, hiding her scars. Her hand trembles with fear as she pushes it out of her face to reveal her black eye and swollen lip that lay on her purple jaw. Her pale blue eyes glisten with tears that slowly continue down her red hot cheeks. My father steps closer to her and winds up his hand but before he can swing I rush across the room to stop him.

"Hey! Back off! Don't touch her!" I yell trying to separate them.

"Why don't you just stay out of this!" he shouts pushing me out of the way. I hit the ground hard, all my limbs racing to reach the floor. Blood drips from my nose and forms little puddles on the floor as I stand up.

"Why don't you lay off—" I yell about to lay a big one on him when my mother shakily stands up.

"Please, Finnick. Just go," she pleads with tears streaming down her face. "I'll be fine. Just go."

I don't want to leave her with him, but I have no choice. We both know that if I stay it will only get worse. It always does. I brush the sand off my uniform and walk out, slamming the door behind me. I wipe the blood off my face as I walk down the walkway and onto the sidewalk. Girls stare at me and giggle to themselves the entire way. When I finally get to Kai's house his mother answers the door.

She is a petite woman, slim waist and small build. Her face is dotted with so many freckles that it's useless to try and count them all. The peak of her nose looks dusted with red from a sunburn but the rest of her is sun kissed tan. Her stick strait dark brown hair is braided loosely to the side and pecked with a daisy on her left ear. Her eyes are a subtle sage green color, like the Hydrangeas that grow in the grassy patches of the district. She wears a simple thin-sleeved light grey cotton dress and a woven white rope bracelet. Her feet peek out from under her dress in light brown sandals.

"Oh, Finnick," she says sympathetically. "Come on inside and let me clean you up." She opens the door and guides me in. "Kai, go get my rubbing alcohol," she yells.

"Okay, just one second," he calls back grabbing a stool from the other room and sitting it next to the kitchen counter. I sit down and his mother rushes to the sink with a small cloth to wet it.

"He got you bad today?" Kai asks.

"No, I just didn't land right this time I guess," I says looking down at my exposed knee. It looks pretty beat up too.

His mother comes up to my side and pats the wet cloth against my face. "Does it hurt?" she asks concerned. She gently brushes my cheek with her hand. "Now this might sting a little," she says taking a cotton ball and cleaning out the cut with rubbing alcohol. I wince at first but eventually my face relaxes.

After that we head out the door and walk to the rest of the way to the Academy. It isn't that far away but by the time we get there it's packed. District 4 has a reputation for succeeding in the games so they always open up the Academy for everyone eligible for the drawings on the day before the reaping. No one has to go to classes, it's just organized free fight. I go up to the weapons table and grab a silver trident, my specialty.

"Hey, check out that girl," Kai says nudging me and nodding towards the girl in the corner. She is tall and slim with flowing long dark brown hair and a good arm with her machete. She wears a large tan sweater that seems to be slipping off her shoulder with navy blue cotton high thigh shorts and a simple sea shell hanging right around her neck on a worn out leather chain. Definitely not the uniform. "She's almost Academy material," he adds.

"Why isn't she here?" I ask. Everyone who has a chance at winning is usually evaluated and placed in the Academy at eleven. Why is she so different?

Coral steps behind me, her stick strait sleek blonde hair resting on her shoulders. "Her mother can't pay for it," she says parting her bright red glossy lips to show a slight smirk towards how pathetic she thinks this is. "She's too hopped up on alcohol to pay any attention to her really." She folds her arms and narrows her cool blue eyes at the girl.

"Yeah, her father's the one who got caught in that net a couple years ago. I guess you never really get over it," Kai says looking over at her. She takes her machete and slices the dummies arm off and then swings it back around to its head in one swift move.

"Maybe that's what makes her so good."

* * *

Training gets out early so we can go home and get ready for tomorrow. Kai, Coral, and I all walk together on my way home trying to guess who's going to get picked tomorrow.

"I've got 20 on Roman," Kai says. "And if he doesn't get picked he's definitely going to volunteer."

"I don't know. What about Zale?" I ask him. They're both pretty good but Roman isn't that showy about his skills like Zale. Roman has some of the best scores the Academy has ever seen but he doesn't seem like the type to volunteer. To do that takes more than just guts. To bargain your life for the sheer joy of torturing others on live TV isn't for everyone.

"You guys are such idiots," Coral says pushing the side bangs of her sleek blonde hair out of her face. Kai and I both look at her confused. "What, you two never thought of Finnick?" she asks.

Kai and I look at each other trying to figure out what the other is thinking.

"Don't tell me you haven't thought of it," she says to me.

I stop in my tracks the second she says that. _What if I do get picked this year?_ I haven't really thought about it much because usually the older ones usually get picked, but it could happen.

"Well your father is the Mayor. You know that gives you greater chances of getting picked. I mean the Capitol does love _drama,_" she smiles shaking her hands around.

My face stiffens as I start to explore the seriousness of what she just said. _I could get picked. I could give up my life and everyone I know to actually kill_  
_complete strangers for the Capitols amusement._ It's sick, but true.

Coral comes around to my front and places both of her delicate hands on my cheeks. "I'm sorry, Finnick. I didn't mean it like that," she says. "But you should realize that it could happen, to any of us." She takes my hand in hers and looks at Kai. "I'll see you guys tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah," I say looking up at her. She wraps her arms around my neck and pushes her body close to mine, her smooth hair hitting my face. She gives me a lingering kiss on the cheek before leaving.

* * *

When I finally get to my house I hesitate before slowly opening the door. I come in and see my mother sitting at the kitchen table, with a cup of tea in her hands, starring into thin air. Her hair is in a frizzy mess and her under-eye circles are so dark they blend into the bruises from this morning. I can see a bloody gash on her leg peeking out from under her black satin layered skirt.

"Oh, H-hello, Finnick. H-how was training?" she asks struggling to get the words out. She mats down her hair with one of her hands and offers me a seat next to her.

"No, that's okay," I say. "Hey, where is..." I point to my fathers office in the front corner of the hallway.

"He went into town for business. He should be back home soon," she says.

I go into my room and shut the door before sitting down on the bed. I take off my shoes and peel off my uniform that the heat has stuck to me. I grit my teeth as the shirts inches off my arms. I quickly slip on a t-shirt and khaki shorts before going back out into the hallway. Just as I shut the door I hear the front door open. I freeze. I can't hear all of it from where I am but I know he's angry. He comes in with smoke flying out of his ears, already half way to flipping out again. My mother tries to calm him down but it doesn't seem to be working. All of a sudden I hear something shatter followed by a scream. Footsteps travel down the hallway and I rush quickly inside my room but almost as soon as I close it he opens it.

"What did you do?" he yells letting the door slam into the dresser, making everything on it fall.

"What do you—"

"You know exactly what I mean. Your on lockdown until tomorrow," he yells slamming the door shut so hard it makes the floor shake, locks it, and stomps away.

Shards of glass and shells are all over the ground. I pick up a broken picture frame, the picture inside crinkled and almost fully revealed from under the broken glass. The frame itself is chipped at the corners and roughed up a bit. I look at the picture inside, a photo of me and my mother making a sand castle on the beach. We both look happy, something I haven't seen in a while. I place it back in its place on my dresser once again, making sure that it doesn't wobble on it's newly found short end.

Eventually my muscles start to ache and I just lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. I stay there until my mind is empty from all thought and all I can hear is the constant pace of my breath. After a while my eyes blink out of focus and follow to the open window that continues to let in the sweet smell of ocean breeze. Before I can fully think it through I grab my blue cotton sweatshirt from a chair at my desk and climb out the window.


	2. Chapter 2

The best feeling in the world is the sand between your toes, that's what my mother taught me. We used to walk down to the beach every day and just do whatever. Here was the land of no rules, the world of play pretend. I can never bring myself to remember why it stopped, why everything bad started, it just did.

The cool ocean breeze blows through my hair and for the first time in a while I breathe easily, like this is where I really belong, the ocean. It's strange that in a district where everything revolves around the ocean it took me so long to realize it.

I step closer and closer to the ocean until I am but inches away, my feet imbedded in the dark wet sand. When a wave finally rushes over my feet I watch them turn blurry as they are hit with the rush of warm liquid. I close my eyes and let my skin take in the rays peeping out in the beautiful sunset shown in the sky. For a minute I pause and listen to the soothing bursts of sound that come with each wave that crashes on shore, but then continue to walk along the beach as rocks and seaweed poke at my feet and tangle with my toes. With every crash comes the retraction of the water to show any rocks and washed up things before once again covering it with another rush of water.

I'm staring openly around the beach when I see her.

I know it's her.

* * *

I walk towards her and pause before placing myself in the sand at a respectable distance.

"Do you come here a lot?" I ask as I settle my eye back on the endless horizon.

She slowly turns her head towards me, her hair flowing like ripples across her shoulder. Her sea green eyes sparkle almost like reflections of the ocean. She pauses, making sure to search me thoroughly from head to toe with her observant gaze. She silently turns back towards the sunset and waits yet another minute to give her response.

"I guess," she says closing her eyes and letting in the last bit of sun before it disappears behind the water. Her eyes quickly dart back to me. "Why do you want to know?"

"No reason. Just wondering," I say taking a deep breath and trying to settle my stomach that has been spinning in circles since sitting down. "I haven't been here in a while, that's all."

She places her arms behind her body, standing them up against the sand, and stretched her legs out strait in front of her. She takes a deep breath herself and almost seems to smile slightly.

"Funny, it seems like I'm only ever here," she says not moving here eyes from the place they look. She stays like that for a minute before letting herself smile. It's not big but the energy she gives off is unexplainable. Something about her just make me want more, to learn more about her.

"Oh, I wish. It's kind of hard to escape the house these days. I feel like I'm trapped half the time. I can see why you come here after everything that happened," I say but quickly regret it. Why was I saying all of this, all my family secrets to some stranger. I just couldn't help it.

She quickly sits back up and turns to me, her eyes open wide. "How did you know? Y-you can't tell anybody?" she says seeming to be in some kind of panic.

"About what? About your mother? Listen, if she needs help you need to tell—" She puts her hand over my mouth and pushes me to the ground, climbing on top on me to keep her hold. The soft ends of her flowing long dark brown hair drapes down onto my face.

"You can't tell anybody. You understand?" she says and I can tell she's scared. She reminds me of a stray kitten I found in a beaten up cardboard box last year towards the Main Square. It was a small kitten with thin black fur and hazel green eyes. It was so light I could barley feel it when it sat in the palm of my hand. Someone had just left it there to die. I brought it home and took care of it for a while but one day after coming home from the Academy it was gone.

I lay there and look into her wide sea green eyes, trying to imagine what could be so bad that she didn't want anyone finding out about her mother. This wasn't her just being embarrassed but genuinely afraid.

I nod my head as best I can with her hand placed so tight against my face.

"Good," she says taking her hand off my mouth and rolling back onto the sand. She settles back onto her arms but the scared look doesn't come off her face.

"Why do you care anyways?" I ask. "Just wondering. You don't have to answer that."

There is a good five minutes of us just sitting there as the water pulls in and out from our toes, in complete silence, but she does answer me.

"Because they'll take me away," she says barley getting her sentence out before she gets too choked up. Tears start to drip down her face and leave wet spots in the already damp sand. Her breaths get deeper and deeper as she tries to steady herself but every once in a while she sniffles and I hear a sob escape her lips.

I look at her, the scared little kitten, and remember what it's like to feel lost and frightened.

"If they find out that my mother isn't taking care of me they'll take me away." She sniffles. "And she's the only family I have left." Her sobs get more and more difficult to hide as the tears turn from drips to steady rain. I scooch in a little closer to her and put my arm around her shoulder. Her head leans on it and I feel the beat of her whimpering heart.

We stay just like that for a while. I don't know how long but by the time she wipes her eyes and sits up there are already and uncountable number of stars in the sky.

"Are you okay?" I ask stretching out my arm that seems to have fallen asleep.

"Do you wanna go for a swim?" she asks suddenly.

"Um, I guess—"

"Great! Come on!" she says grabbing my hand and pulling me up off the ground, running strait into the water as fast as she can. Her cheeks are still red from crying but her eyes are as beautiful as ever. The way they light up when she gets in the water is like magic. Her hair blows in the night breeze as she runs through the salty waters, splashing like crazy along the way. After we get in hip deep she begins to slow down and lets go of my hand. Everything looks dark and I can barley see her just standing there, looking up at the stars.

"Don't you just love the water at this time of night," she says trying to do a twirl but falling in. She stays under for a minute and I rush towards her, worried, but she comes up.

"Are you okay?" I ask concerned.

She holds up her hand and I take it but instead of helping her up she pulls me under. After she lets go I come up, gasping for air. She giggles. Her laugh is so infectious that soon I begin to follow and hers gets even louder. Soon we're laughing so hard that it almost seems impossible for either one of us to stop.

Her hair is covering her face covering her face but she quickly clears it away with her hands before wiping her eyes. Her large tan sweater now appears a muddy brown, releasing water like a towel your trying to wring out. The beat-up leather chain on her neck now looks almost like jell compared to how it was before.

She laughs so strongly that she has to hold onto me for support. Her eyes soon find mine and our lips slowly meet each others. We stay like that for a moment, kissing, her in my arms. It tastes sweet, like nothing I've ever experienced before. Eventually she pulls away and I look into her big sea green eyes.

"I-I should probably get back home to my mother. You know, make sure she's not passed out," she says.

"Yeah, my father will be pissed off if he finds out I'm gone," I say. Our eyes meet in silence.

"Race you!" she says at the same time I do and we both begin swimming as fast as we can towards the shore, jokingly trying sabotaging the other as we go.

"Good luck tomorrow," she says.

"You too."


End file.
